Lyrics Lila Downs – Smoke (Acteal)

How dark is the smoke that falls from the sky
And soaked in our blood are the feathers of time
How dark is the smoke that falls from the sky
And soaked in our blood are the feathers of time

More women and children were killed on that night
More than they could count when they threw ’em in trucks
Some children were kneeling, the saints were all calm
Machetes and gunshots reveal all the blood
O great cave of smoke, o children of stones
What beautiful birds will show us your road

The papers reported the stories we know
Yet silence is deep as the hundreds of souls
And the hundreds of hopes, and the hundreds of hopes
Of our people

How dark is the smoke that falls from the sky
And soaked in our blood are the feathers of time
How dark is the smoke that falls from the sky
And soaked in our blood are the feathers of time

How dark is the smoke that falls from the sky
And soaked in our blood are the feathers of time
How dark is the smoke that falls from the sky
And soaked in our blood are the feathers of time

Now everyone’s waiting and hoping for justice
But will there be goodness where men kill their own
Our wise people say that the mouth of the earth
Has swallowed her fruit
But the eagle and snake will stand for the truth
When the mother of corn has spoken

O axe of our fire, bring justice to life
For we know that power wants one sacrifice

How dark is the smoke that falls from the sky
And soaked in our blood are the feathers of time
How dark is the smoke that falls from the sky
And soaked in our blood are the feathers of time

Of time
Of time
Of time